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FREE online courses on ECOMMERCE FUNDAMENTALS - Electronic Payment Systems
- Smart cards |
Smart cards are credit-card sized cards. They have a
processor and memory on the card. Digital cash or private keys can be stored
on these cards and can be carried in a wallet. Sometimes, these cards are
referred to as PCMCIA cards, since the card may be designed to fit in the
PCMCIA slots of a computer.
There are four types of microcircuit cards that can be used
as smart cards:
Memory cards contain space for data storage. These cards can
be used to store passwords or PIN. Many telephone cards use these memory cards.
Shared-key cards can store a private key such as those used
in public key cryptosystems. In this way the user can plug in the card to a
workstation and the workstation can reach the private key for encryption or
decryption. Some cards may also process encryption algorithms.
Signature-carrying cards contain a set of pre-generated
random numbers. These numbers can be used to generate electronic cash.
Signature-creating cards carry a co-processor that can be
used to generate large random numbers. These random numbers can then be used for
assignment as serial numbers for electronic cash. A user can use the
signature-carrying cards and signature-creating cards to generate electronic
cash. The user then sends this cash securely to a bank. The bank draws money
from the user's account and then issues the cash under its name by adding the
bank's signatures.
